PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball nearly put the finishing touches on a perfect home record for the season, but #17/21 Missouri State was able to hold off a second-half surge from the Braves as the Lady Bears posted a 69-66 victory Sunday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum.
League-leading Missouri State (24-4 overall, 14-2 MVC) led by as many 20 points (47-27) in the opening minutes of the third quarter, before Bradley rallied to eventually pull within one (67-66) in the closing seconds of the contest. The Bears made a pair of free throws with 1.4 seconds left to make it a three-point game and a half-court heave from junior Gabi Haack, who finished with a game-high 24 points, was off the mark at the buzzer as Missouri State escaped with the 69-66 victory.
The loss snapped a school record 18-game home win streak for Bradley (20-7 overall, 11-5 MVC), which dated back to a loss to Missouri State in January 2019. The Braves will be the #3 seed for the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference Tournament to mark the highest seed in program history.
Haack was one of four Bradley players to score in double figures with junior Nyjah White and sophomores Lasha Petree and Tatum Koenig each adding 10 points each. The Braves shot 56 percent from the field in the second half, including 4-of-5 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes to fuel the comeback.
Missouri State scored the first nine points of the game and led by nine after the opening quarter. The Bears were able to stretch the lead to as many as 19 in the second quarter and led 40-25 at the break after Bradley shot 42 percent from the field and committed eight first-half turnovers.
The Bears had their largest lead of the afternoon at 47-27 after an Alex Willard fastbreak layup forced Bradley to call a timeout. Haack had a driving layup to start a 9-0 run and added a fastbreak layup after pulling down a defensive rebound on a Missouri State miss. After another defensive stop, junior Emily Marsh found Koenig for a three-pointer from the wing. Haack split a pair of free throws nearing the five-minute mark of the third and Koenig did the same on the next Bradley possession to cut the deficit to 47-36.
Later in the third, Marsh helped key an 8-0 Bradley run which pulled the Braves within five at 51-46 closing in on two minutes to play in the period. Marsh found White underneath for a layup and knocked down a three-pointer to start the run. After a pair of White free throws trimmed the MSU lead to six, March split a pair of her own with 2:12 left in the period to cut the Missouri State lead to 51-46.
The Missouri State advantage was back to double-digits early in the fourth quarter, with the Bears holding a 58-48 edge after a Willard hoop. The Braves answered with back-to-back hoops, including one of Haack's four three-pointers on the day, to once again pull within five at 58-53.
The Missouri State lead was back to nine 65-56 with a little over three minutes to play when Bradley would make one last push. Haack sparked what would be a 10-2 Bradley run with another three-pointer. Petree followed a Missouri State miss with a rebound and driving layup to cut the MSU lead to 65-61 with just under two minutes to play.
Missouri State's Brice Calip responded with a pull-up jumper in the lane to give her team a six-point cushion (67-61) with 1:37 on the clock. A three-point play by Haack, who had 11 points in the fourth, cut it to three 67-64 with 1:26 to play.
Bradley got stops on each of the next two Missouri State possessions and had the ball with 25 seconds to play after a Chelsea Brackmann defensive rebound. Unable to get a look from three, Haack was fouled with 3.5 seconds remaining and made both free throws to pull the Braves within one 67-66.
Missouri State was able to get the ball in to Willard, who made a pair of free throws with 1.4 seconds left to seal the 69-66 victory for the Bears.
Haack broke the Renaissance Coliseum career scoring record with her 24-point effort and also knocked down her 200th career three-pointer. In addition, she passed Raisa Taylor for 11th on Bradley's career scoring list.
After Missouri State shot 48.4 percent from the field in the first half, the Braves held the Bears to 26.5 percent shooting in the second half. Willard led Missouri State in scoring with 19 points and was joined in double figures by Calip (12), Jasmine Franklin (11) and Sydney Wilson (10).
Despite the loss, Bradley closed the year with a 12-1 record at Renaissance Coliseum for the best home record in program history.
The Braves close out the 2019-20 regular-season schedule on the road, opening a two-game road swing Thursday at Indiana State (6 p.m. CST).